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Alumnus Thomas Winkler receives EU Fellowship

Alumnus Thomas Winkler receives EU Fellowship

Alumnus Thomas Winkler (BIOE Ph.D. 2017) has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship by the European Commission. Winkler is a postdoctoral researcher in micro and nanosystems at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, working in Anna Herland’s in vitro neural models and hybrid bioelectrical systems group. The award will fund his project, “NeuroVU: Real-time Sensing in Microfluidic Models of the Neurovascular Unit,” and will officially begin in summer 2018.

About the award Funding for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship is part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation. The 1,348 fellowships awarded in 2018 are worth €248.7 million (about $305,753,000).

The fellowships are designed to boost careers, and are given to scientists in a variety of situations, including postdoctoral researchers who will spend two years in public bodies, non-governmental organizations, or firms; researchers who are returning to work in Europe after a period spent elsewhere in the world; scientists returning after a career break; and researchers based in Europe who wish to gain new skills and experience elsewhere in the world.

“We are today recognizing the potential of excellent, internationally mobile researchers who faced intense international competition to be awarded with a fellowship,” said Tibor Navracsics, the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. “The projects they will work on will help tackle some of the biggest challenges our societies face, helping to build a resilient, fair, competitive Europe.”